The Hunt
by PurePower
Summary: She was Cold and Dangerous. Even Death feared her. She would Kill all who tried to hurt her. She loved the hunt. But, one day she becomes the hunted, and now, death is trying to claim her again. When you run from Death, the only escape, is Life. onesho
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Corner**

Hmm…, yes well, I found out that frustration can help me write fic.'s too. Of course, the down side to this is, it kinda turns out to be a little dark and quite different. I am still pressed for time, so I am putting up only the first of two chapters. I need to check the second one, and it should be up either by tomorrow or the day after.

No character deaths.

(This is a 2 chapter, One-Shot).

**Disclaimer:** You can put your standard disclaimer here. (It's definitely better than what I usually say.)

**Warning:** (Rated M); Mature Content (for chapter 2). 'Read at your discretion.'

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Side Note: _**If**_ anyone is wondering why I haven't been reviewing lately, it's most probably because I haven't read the newest chapters. I am still struggling with my project work. I don't want to leave reviews just for the sake of leaving one. If your story is on my 'Story Alert List', then I'm still reading them, or at least I am hoping to read them. I can however, wish you all the best on your stories._

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The Hunt**

Kikyo stood beside the small stream, letting the pale moonlight bathe her in its unearthly light, her expression solemn and cold, like her heart and her soul. She was alone. That was nothing new. It certainly wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. But still the fact was that, she was alone. Her raven hair waved like a hand of black behind her, daring anything to approach. If anything did, the hand of black would remain, but the rest of what it was connected to, would become a hand of death. She saw no difference now. Demons, humans, they were both the same to her. And if either crossed her path, she would kill them.

Her past?

That did not matter anymore. There was too much pain back then. Too much suffering. It wasn't worth it. All had abandoned her, even Inu… No! She wasn't going to even think of that name. It disgusted her. Not he, but it, was a part of her past. The Shikon No Tama, that was part of her past as well. It had ruined her life when she was alive, then it had haunted her when she was the walking dead, and then… before it disappeared, it placed on her, one last curse. A final taunt of sorts. A final blow that would scar her for life.

Life.

That had been the curse. But no, not just any life. It had given her the life of an immortal. A life that was no more a life, but an existence, till the end of time, if there was such a thing. It too had been a part of her past, but its' affects would remain with her forever, haunting her, even though it had disappeared from this world. Her past was horrible. Her past… was the dirt beneath her feet.

Her future?

There was nothing that she could compare her future to, since she knew nothing about it. But every time her future turned into the present, she found that she did not like it. And when the future, turned present, finally turned into the past, she hated it. It was again dirt beneath her feet.

She gently tilted her head up to the sight of the full moon. The moon was beautiful. It would always remain beautiful. After all, it never touched this earth. If it had, it too would have turned ugly. She was sure of that. Anything that touched this earth, would feel pain, and in one way or another, turn ugly.

Was she ugly?

No. She could never be ugly. Her milky white skin, her perfect features, her long black hair and so many other things, permanently prevented her from ever being placed under the word 'ugly'. She was perfect. But, being perfect had its price. It made her ugly in the eyes of others, and an object of lust and desire in others. She did not much care about what others said. But, she was not deaf either. The jealous remarks, the filthy comments meant to win her over; they all fell on her ears. Demons and humans, they were the same to her. She rarely ever stayed at a village or even went near one. She was wild now.

Was she free?

Yes. She was completely free. There was nothing that could hold her back or trap her now. She had power. Great power. Her power ensured her freedom. But, her power attracted unwanted attention. She was a price to be won by many. She was even a prey to be captured by others. But they had all failed though. She had killed them all. Without mercy. She had… enjoyed it. Seeing demons and humans alike, writhing in pain when her power burned through their skin, killing them slowly and painfully. She felt alive then.

Pain?

She had felt it in her past. Hated it. But now, she craved it. Pain not on herself, but on others. They would beg for mercy; she could feel her heart beating. They would beg for life; she could feel her soul living. None ever escaped her. They would all fall. One by one. If they did escape, she would hunt them down. Like animals. That's what they were, so why not treat them as such? All prey had fallen, except one.

Did she make a mistake with that one?

Yes, she did. She found the wrong prey. It deserved to be killed. It had after all destroyed a village, purely because of rage. She had relished the opportunity to fight something as powerful as that. When she had arrived at the scene, it had fled. She had hunted it down. But it was in this process, that she realized that it hadn't fled, but merely just left. She had made a mistake. Her prey realized she was following it. She had met it head on. She had made a mistake. Before she knew how, the hunter had become the hunted. Prey, had turned vicious predator.

It was a giant monster, but… it was beautiful. Its power; incredible. Her powers had failed on it, so of course it was incredible. She had wounded it, but it seemed unfazed. With a roar, it had ripped through the giant trees that she hard sent it hurtling into.

Was she scared?

Yes. It was an unfamiliar feeling to her. She had never felt fear before. Never. But the creatures' roar alone, had sent her spine tingling. She froze. She had dared to look up at its eyes. She saw death in them. She felt fear claim her. She had turned and run.

Was that a mistake as well?

Yes! It was a big mistake. By her actions, she had accepted her role as prey. The creature understood it as well. It was the hunter, and it relished the chance to hunt down and kill its prey. The tables had turned quickly. So quickly, that one would never have expected it. She had run through the wild forest full of gargantuan trees that blocked the sunlight, only allowing a few rays to seep in here and there. It was very ominous looking. She hadn't realized that when she was the hunter. But now that she was the hunted, everything seemed a lot clearer. It all felt… real.

She could hear trees crashing and being thrashed about behind her. The creature was big. The trees served as unintended barriers between her and the hunter. The old ones survived and stood strong, like they had been doing for centuries. But their young, not even a century old, fell under the might and muscle of the hunter. If they weren't felled with the impact of its speed and strength, then they were crushed or bitten through. But, they formed some sort of failing barrier between the creature and the woman. They provided a chance at survival.

She tripped and fell. The fear, it immediately descended upon her in unreal quantities. Before she could even react, she was already on her feet and running. This was strange for her as well. She never ran away. Not from anything.

Why was she running away now?

That was a good question. The answer however, eluded her. Why was she running? Then the answer came to her. To escape. From what? From the creature. Why? It was going to kill her. That thought had not played about in her head for a long time. She had not had anything to worry about in the past. Her power saw to that did it not? But now, her powers had failed, and finally… Finally she had come across something that could actually end her life. It could end her immortality. It had, the power, to erase her existence. It could turn her into nothing but a mere memory.

The crashing and thunderous sound got closer. She picked up her speed again, from whence it had slowed because of the thoughts that had been playing about in her head. Concentrating on the path in front of her, she found that she could not only see things more clearly, but feel it too. Another crash; she felt a heart beating, no not beating, it was pounding in her chest. Another thunderous echoing roar; she felt her soul living, no not living, it was _burning_ with life inside her. She felt… alive.

Did the revelation startle her?

Yes! It almost made her loose her footing again. There was no pain, but still, she felt alive? It was stranger than all the other feelings that had come upon her in such a short time. Was she actually fighting, or in this case, fleeing, just to stay alive? She realized she was. She was actually unprepared to face death. She had always been prepared before, even though death had been wary of her powers and stayed well away from her. She had been prepared for it a long time ago. At first death had come, taken her, then released her, then eluded her before finally fleeing from her; finally afraid of her. But now, it was back. It was not in the least afraid of her. In fact, it seemed to be taunting her. It had come back with a vengeance. It was more than confident that it could claim her again, and she could not disagree. The possibility was very real. But still, she felt very alive.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face. Her haori was already soaked. She was panting now, heavily. Her breaths were becoming shorter. She was finding it harder and harder to take in air. Her body was exhausted. Suddenly there was an explosion of demonic power behind her, sending shockwaves through the earth, causing her to stumble and fall to the green earth. The sounds of trees being crushed disappeared under the sound of them literally exploding. Even the oldest of the trees couldn't withstand the amount of power, and three of them fell, slowly, until they shook the earth further as the collided with the ground.

The tremors continued, and she lay flat on the ground, covering her head with her hands. There were still parts of trees flying about and landing all around her. Fear smacked her hard. She was on her feet again, as the tremors lessened, and the earth stopped trembling in fear of the demon's power. She was not alone, she realized. All the creatures that dared to live in such a dark forest, had instantly fled, unable to withstand the demon energy rippling through the air. It appeared that even the sun hid with fear.

Is that possible?

No, it was not. She knew something was wrong. She dared to look up. What little air she had left inside her, immediately left in a rush. The creature was sailing through the air above her, it's gigantic form blocking what little light was allowed into the forest, destroying the trees that stood in the way of the path its' body was taking. She fell on her knees as more trees collapsed on her left and her right. Another explosion and the earth shook once again, more trees fell as a result of the earth rising under the shockwave. The beautiful monster had landed several hundred yards directly in front of her. Another deafening roar resounded through the forest.

Was she going to die?

She did not know, but it seemed the mostly likely outcome. Kneeling with her hands on the earth to support her, she tilted her head upwards, to see the creature turn to face her, death smiling at her from behind it. The creature would come to her first, and death would follow.

Was she just going to sit there and accept that fate?

No! No, she was not! She attacked it again, The creature fell, but like before, if only a little more slowly, it stood up again. Death laughed at her expense. She had seen death before, but she had never thought it could appear in the form of a creature as beautiful as this. It was covered in long swaying snow white fur, that shined a hazy gold where ever the patches of sunlight hit it. A thicker, somewhat dirtier snow colored length of fur, spread from underneath its' chest to go over its right shoulder to meet again, after stretching a good distance across its body in an angle to the left. It ears were uncommonly shaped. It was built on muscles, that bulged even as it breathed. Its eyes were a crimson red, thicker than blood. It was… an Inu demon.

A dog demon?

Yes! A giant white, dog demon. As she panted, it looked at her intently. She too was mesmerized by its blood eyes. Coming out of her stupor, she was about to attack it again, when a bright light covered its body, almost blinding her with its intensity. Feeling the demon energy, not subside, but rather restrict itself, she slowly opened her eyes. The demon had disappeared.

But then, why could she still feel its dominating aura?

A sparkle of some kind appeared in her vision. She slowly lowered her head from the skies, where only moments ago a dog demon's eyes had been looking at her, to a small form in the distance. Her eyes widened. In the distance, stood a man. No, not a man, but a demon who had assumed the shape of man. She was not running now, but her breath still left her again. Death had never looked this beautiful before.

But could the word 'beautiful' be associated to a male?

He had long silvery white hair that hung up-to well below his waist, perhaps even up-to his knee. He was tall, clad in expensive looking white cloth, with a yellow and purple sash around his waist. His skin was flawless, paler than hers, but somehow brighter. He had amazing eyes. They were gold, and as intense as the sun. What looked like magenta stripes, two of them on each side, streaked across the sides of his face. His eyelids were of a similar shade, but more towards red. He had a crescent moon on his forehead. A thick fury pelt rushed over his right shoulder to sway behind him. He really was beautiful. Death had found what she thought was the perfect male specimen that could look beautiful and still look man enough. He really was beautiful. But wait!

Has she not seen him somewhere before?

She hated her past. So it took a while for her to remember. And when she did, she felt… nothing. She had only seen him once, with a little girl. A human girl. She hadn't got a good look at him then, but she was sure that the demon standing in front of her was him. He was that things, half brother. The Lord of the Western Lands. He had his arm back. And he had grown to become even more powerful. She was well aware of who his father had been, so it did not come as much of a surprise that the son would take after him. 'Sesshoumaru' was his name.

He was nothing like his half brother. He was calm and collected. In fact he seemed a bit too calm, and it unnerved her. It was as if he had total confidence that he could do what ever he wanted to her. The thought made her stand and take a few steps back, fear swimming around her again.

She almost gasped when his eyes flashed crimson a few times. The monster may have gone, but the predator, the predator was still there. She watched as he pulled out his sword, with its sheath, and dropped it onto the ground.

What was he doing?

She did not know. And she thought that she really did not want to know either. She made a mistake. She attacked him again. But he had disappeared. Suddenly she felt hot breath on her neck, and his aura unmasked itself behind her. She froze again.

"That was a foolish thing to do, priestess." he rasped into her ear, sending more shivers down her body.

There was slight movement, and she found herself in a one armed embrace. His nose moving up and down along the back of her neck, like he was taking in her scent.

"Umm… nice…" his voice like silk, came out again.

She squirmed in his grasp, but to no avail. It seemed that fear had settled in on her permanently. She could not find her powers. It was like she did not have them anymore. She was left defenseless, and completely at his mercy.

Mercy?

It was something that she did not give others. Was there a reason to assume that he would deal with her in the same way? No, he was a demon after all. There was a blur of movement. She found herself backed into a tree, facing him, her feet barely touching the ground as he held her up by the neck. She gasped once again, when he lowered his face to her neck and took in her scent.

His hot breath… was more than enough to ruin her concentration…

_To Be Continued…_

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You've been warned; The next chapter has Mature content. (now don't tell me I didn't say so, coz I've said it twice). Hmph! 


	2. Chapter 2

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Continuation…**

She would think that he was going to kill her, but then he would again bend down to take in her scent. He seemed confused, she realized. She knew that he hated humans, but she did not put it beyond him to make use of one to satisfy his pleasures. But this time, she was sure he seemed confused about something. It appeared that he was fighting a battle within himself.

"Your power, it changes your scent." he stated more than asked.

So that was it. He was intoxicated by her scent. He was after all a dog demon. But what was he going to do? She was surprised again when she found herself staring into his golden eyes, no more than an inch away from her. He seemed to be trying to see something in her blue eyes. As if he was trying to make sense of what was happening and whether she was doing this to him intentionally or not.

She tried running away again. She made a mistake. She was pushed back violently against the tree, and before she could protest, his lips descended on hers. She stilled, from sheer surprise at what he was doing to her. He was actually kissing her! Regaining her stability, and recovering from the shock, she struggled against him, and started thrashing. She wasn't acting like herself. She was acting like a normal woman would. She felt alive…

There was another blur of movement, and she found herself on the ground, with him on top of her. He kissed her again. It was more demanding now, like he was loosing control. She felt a clawed hand on her breast, and when it was squeezed gently, she gasped. Immediately her mouth was invaded by his tongue. It created havoc inside. He seemed desperate to taste every little bit of her. She tried pushing him away, first with her hands, then with her head; which only deepened the kiss, and then with her tongue; which resulted in them battling to get the upper hand.

She felt his hand slide between the sticky, from sweat, material of her haori and ravish her naked chest. She squirmed underneath him. She again tried to push him off of her, but it was like trying to move a mountain. The kiss ended, and she found herself taking in some much needed air. Suddenly there was a small ripping sound. He had pulled open her haori, exposing her upper body for him to see. His mouth came down on one of her buds, and she gasped again. She started thrashing down on his shoulders and back with her closed palms. She was fighting for dignity now. She felt… alive.

He came back up to kiss her again. She did not try to stop him this time, thinking that if she complied to this, he wouldn't go any further. She half screamed, half moaned into his mouth, when she felt his hand reach under her hakama's and brush over her warm core. The red material was off in an instant, leaving her in only some wrappings, which were cut through, and soon, she was completely naked under him.

She fisted her palms behind him with his hair and pulled with all her might. It did little or nothing to affect him. Her eyes went wide when she felt something hard and free press against her inner thigh. Again, before she could react or even think of how he had managed to undo his hakama's, he pushed her head down with a kiss. She moaned when she felt him at her entrance. And then he was inside. She screamed into his mouth when he went past her virginal barrier, biting his lower lip in pain.

She was actually feeling it now. Pain. She was the one in pain now. Tears rolled down the sides of her face. She remembered that she liked pain, but only when it was on others.

He slowly pulled out and pushed back in again. This time it was a clear moan of pleasure that she voiced into his mouth. She decided that she did like pain on herself too, even though it was fast disappearing, only to be replaced by pleasure. She was lost now. She was the one that was confused now.

She let her arms rest on the ground on either side of her, and he started to pick up the pace. He released her lips and started suckling on the pulse point on her neck. This was wrong. She knew it was wrong. But, there was nothing she could do to stop him. She was at his mercy. But, it did feel good. It felt unbelievably good. She didn't look at him, instead she concentrated on the feeling, and on trees and the leaves far above her, and the small rays of sunlight that seeped in here and there. She tried hard not make a sound, but sometimes she couldn't suppress her moans of pleasure.

He started going harder and faster. She had to close her eyes and bite her lip to prevent herself from screaming out in pleasure. She suddenly felt a burning sensation pool around her middle. She could feel the heat rise. Her body was coated in a sheen of sweat. He increased his pace yet again. She had to hold on to him to steady herself. And suddenly, the heat she was feeling exploded within her, and she came with a shudder. She screamed loudly and freely into the empty forest, and bit into his shoulder, as she squeezed him inside her. A moment later she felt him come too, filling her with a hot liquid. Once the intense pleasure diminished, she fell back to the ground, gasping for breath, seeing white.

She came back to reality when she felt him suckling on her neck again. After that, they both remained silent, and he still lay on top of her, still nestled inside her hot core. When the pounding of her heart dropped to its normal rate, he slowly withdrew from her and dressed himself again. She watched silently as he walked a little away to retrieve his sword and place it back at his waist. He turned to look at her. There was confusion, disgust, and the most surprising of all, fear in his eyes. She had not said a word to him, since their encounter, except for her screams and her moans, and she remained silent again. He took a last scathing looking at her, before leaping up and disappearing through the trees.

She found a nearby stream and cleaned the blood and the remnants of sex from her body before pulling on her clothes and adjusting the haori, that had a rip, as best as she could. She took one last look at the giant forest, that had bared witness to what had happened between her and a demon Lord, and left in a random direction. She had seen that look in his eyes just before he disappeared. She knew this wasn't over. It was far form being over. She was still prey, and he was still the predator. The hunt was still on.

It was weeks later when he found her again. He was still confused as to what he was doing there and why he had come. Again there was no talk. He had carried her off deep into the forest, and they had had sex again. Every time they did, she would feel alive. And she enjoyed it. Then he would leave again, still with the look of confusion, disgust at what he had just done, and fear. She understood the first two, but she could not understand why he felt fear. But, they never talked, so she never asked.

This had become a ritual of sorts for them, though the time and place when they would meet and have sex was never known. It had been going on for more than a year now. They had slowly started to talk. Never, anything personal. But, just this and that. He would sometimes spend the night with her, but he would be gone before the first rays of the sun. She never minded. When he was there, and with what they did, she felt alive without having to kill for it, and that's all she needed. But every time he came to her, he would look confused, and since of late, angry. But they did what they always did.

And now, here she was, beside the stream, under a summer night, looking up at the stars. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt the powerful aura approaching her. She could feel him. His aura was burning around the edges. He was angry again. She could feel the heat rise in between her legs, as she felt the power of his aura, getting nearer and nearer. She liked it when he was angry. He would be rough with her.

He was a fool, she thought. For someone who was supposed to be in total control of his emotions and feelings, he was lost when it concerned her. He was still lost between why he kept returning to her and why he couldn't just kill her. She didn't care that he was a fool, she just needed him to have sex with her. That's all.

There was a gust of wind, and he landed behind her. She turned to look at him. He was still beautiful. His eyes were narrowed and flashed crimson red every once in a while. He was quite angry today. She supposed that he had left behind something important to come find her, all because he couldn't stop wanting her. He was attracted to her, like a bee too a flower. She was an obsession to him, an obsession that he much rather preferred he didn't have.

Wordlessly, she undressed herself and stood naked in front of him. He tended to shred her clothes in an effort to get to her when he was angry, and she was tired of having to go to villages to replace them. She watched silently as he paced about her. She had gotten used to this. It was about the hunt. He would prefer it if she began to run, but she was not in the mood to play that type of game today, although it would usually bring out the animal in him.

He needed to pace so that he would forget about what he was about to do, so that instinct would take over and push back his rational, human hating mind. She was like some sort of aphrodisiac to him. Something he hated, but just couldn't do without. It was her scent that was the most alluring. It seemed like a scent specifically intended to excite pure demons of Inu blood.

She was caught off guard when he suddenly pounced on her, completely naked. He took her then and there, on the forest floor. She moaned out her pleasure into the night forest, for she was sure that not a single creature was about for quite a distance. They were all afraid of him at times like this. His aura would burn, when he was with her, she could feel and it excited her beyond what she could comprehend. But to all other creatures, it was a demonic energy so powerful that it would completely overwhelm them, disrupting their senses and causing ultimate fear to creep into them. If they didn't loose consciousness when it hit them, they would run blindly away till they could feel not even the slightest bit if his aura.

They came together three times before they finally rested, after hours into the night. She was not done yet, so she half lay on him, as she suckled on his pulse point, sensually rubbing his body, trying to get him ready again. It was never that he was out of stamina. He had enough stamina to pleasure her till she died of it. But it was just that, his thoughts would catch up to him and ruin his mood somewhat. She hated it when he started to think, when he was with her. She had learnt that massaging him would usually get him back in the mood.

But just as she attempted to kiss down his body and head to his manhood, he got up and walked towards his clothes. She said nothing. After all, she could never stop him from leaving, though of late, she wanted to. She wanted to spend the whole day with him, instead of only the night. But she would never tell. That was too personal. And they never talked about anything personal. That way, there was nothing that would connect them. That way, she was still free, and so was he.

She lay back on the ground and watched as he picked up his clothes from the ground. She liked to watch him get dressed. Even though he would never tell her, she knew that since the day they met in the forest, she was the only female to see him without his clothes on. She liked that. But her eyes narrowed when he suddenly dropped his clothes and carefully sniffed the air. She was confused. She knew nothing would even come near this area when he was around. She sat up as he turned in her direction and sniffed the air again.

"What is it?" she asked him.

He gave no answer. But the fear in his eyes, she had never seen it as clear as it was now, or with this intensity. There was a blur and he was suddenly kneeling in front of her. She was about to ask for an explanation when he pushed apart her legs, and sniffed her again. She was about to think that he was in the mood again, when he looked up at her with something akin to total and complete defeat.

She had never seen him like that before. And she didn't know from where, but concern for him over took her and she moved closer to him. She once again asked him what was wrong, but he didn't answer, instead he looked up at the skies. And as she watched, the fear slowly started ebbing away, until it was completely gone. But he was still looking at the skies.

"Sesshoumaru?" she called.

"Kikyo." he said absent mindedly.

She was surprised to say the least. He had never called her by her name. She knew something was wrong now. She sat on his naked lap, and pulled his face to look at hers.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

She watched as his eyes narrowed again. Then quickly, out of nowhere, they began to fill with determination. Determination, so strong and powerful, that it almost scared her. She was worried now, and scared as well.

Suddenly his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her close, her sex inadvertently rubbing against his. She gasped with pleasure but was silenced with a kiss before she could moan. This kiss was different. It was different from all the others. It was soft, warm, and wonderful; just like all the others. But there was definitely something different about it. It had something more in it. She couldn't tell what.

Finally on breaking the kiss, he kissed her neck before moving to suckle on her ear, as his grip tightened around her.

After suckling her ear, he whispered, quietly, "You are with child…"

His words didn't sink in at first. But when they did, she stilled on his lap. Her breathing stopped and her eyes went wide… with fear. Suddenly she realized what the look of fear in his eyes meant. All the times she could see it in his eyes; this was what he had been afraid of. This was what scared the demon lord, and now it was scaring her too.

Her heart started pounding. The soul inside of her started burning. And suddenly… she realized, she felt… alive…

In fact, she had never felt more alive, than she was feeling now. There was life growing inside of her now. A whole new life, within her. The feelings were overwhelming for her. She sagged on his lap and rested her head on his shoulder and she held onto him tightly. She wondered why she would seek support from him, and even more puzzling; how she knew he would give her that support. Then it hit her; even though this new life was growing inside her, it had still taken the both of them to create it in the first place. This was _their_ child.

She tensed when she remembered something else. They meant nothing to each other. They just needed each other to satisfy their urges and to make them feel alive. At least that's how she had felt. She wondered what he saw her as. Something that he couldn't stay away from? Something… he needed? That's all they were to each other.

But, the freedom, they had just lost their freedom. They were connected now. And the connection was very real, and it was the strongest connection between a man and a woman, or in this case a demon man and a miko woman. And this had just turned personal, for the both of them. It wasn't something that they could stop talking about or choose to ignore. She was going to have his and her baby.

"Kikyo…" he called to her softly, softer than he had ever talked to her and once again, for the second time, he used her name.

She tensed up. The fear, the fear was coming back to her again. She felt week. Her muscles relaxed and she sagged again. She realized, tears were falling down. She didn't know whether it was because she was happy or scared, or both. What ever happened, she was going to be a mother, and he was going to be a father.

Would he accept the child, she had to wonder. Then she remembered the determination that had seared through his eyes. She knew he would. But then, what about her? Would he accept her? Would _she_ accept him? Kikyo had never in her life felt this lost. She felt her resolve weakening. She needed to do something.

She pulled her head back and looked into his eyes, tears still flowing down her own.

"Sesshoumaru…" she whimpered. "What do we do?"

She watched as his eyes hardened, and then slowly softened. It softened enough to show the subtle emotions that were going through him, his eyes flickering under the moonlight.

"There is something I want." he whispered to her, bringing his right hand to stroke her cheek.

Her eyes darkened. Was he going to bargain for something? Was he trying to use the situation to gain something for himself? She hated him at that moment. She hated him like she had never hated anything before. He had used her vulnerability against her. She realized that the fool wasn't him, but her. Perhaps she had been the fool all this time. Every night that they spent together, she thought she was using him, but, apparently she was the one being used, and now… it appeared that her future was yet again draining out to be nothing more than dirt beneath her feet, or in this case; the dirt beneath his feet. She hated him.

"I want…" he paused, looking at her eyes, "I want, a family."

Kikyo's breath left her again.

She wasn't sure she would get it back until she saw that he was looking straight at her, not even flinching. He was waiting for her. He had given _her_ the choice. It was now her decision to make.

Family.

What a wonderful word, she realized. She never had a family. Her own parents had died soon after her sister had been born. And she died, before she ever got to see her sister grow up. She never had a family. But, now, he was giving her the opportunity to have one of her own. It would be him, her, and their child. The choice was hers to make.

She wished that the choice wasn't hers to make. She was scared and she was unsure, about many things. She was not in love with him, and he was not in love with her. But, they were going to have a child. She had seen how much he loves Rin; after all, her attempted kidnapping was what had sent him into a rampage on the village he destroyed. He would love their child. She knew that, and she knew it without a doubt. She would love their child as well. And then perhaps, through their child, they could learn to love each other.

Kikyo brought her hand up and took his hand in hers.

"Then…" she whispered back, "Then, we shall be one. We will be… a family."

He leaned in and kissed her, and she returned it. And this time, there was something more in her kiss too.

Pulling back, he looked to her for consent. She nodded.

She watched without fear, as his fangs grew sharper and his eyes took on the shade of crimson. Those red eyes had once meant death to her. But now, they meant life. She was not afraid any more.

She leaned in a kissed him, and then tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck, and awaited the pain.

She flinched when his fangs dung into her flesh, but the pain was only momentary. She sagged against him as he began to lap at the wound and clean the blood. He had marked her. Then and there. She was now his, for all eternity, a fate that she had willingly accepted. Now, they were a family, or soon to be one.

"Mine…" he growled, unable to stop himself, since he had let the demon inside taker over to mark her.

She was startled by what he said. When she looked at him, he looked away with his head held low. He knew that she wanted to be free, and hated being tied down, and certainly hated being treated as some kind of possession. He had meant it in a good way though, after all, demons were very protective of their mates, especially if they were Inu.

"Yours…" Kikyo repeated with a smile, shocking him for once, before leaning down to suckle on the skin of his neck.

Then for the first time since they met, they lay down on the forest floor, and made _love_.

As usual, he left the next morning. But this time, this time, he didn't leave alone.

Her future?

Kikyo's future was undetermined as always. But now, it was not just her future alone. She had to share her future with two other lives. And so, she realized, that perhaps with her family, her future, would be bright and something to look forward to.

She had been hunted, and in the process, she had inadvertently hunted down life.

But once in a full moon, she would run from him again. But she didn't run to escape. She ran to be caught.

She loved to be the hunted, and in time… she learned to love the hunter as well.

…TH**E E**ND…

* * *


End file.
